Best Roaming Mages in League of Legends

Since its creation in 2009, League of Legends has been constantly evolving into a more complex and strategic game. Many new innovative approaches were developed, fixed by Riot Games, redeveloped, and again. 

But the main thing that connects most of them is their efficient maneuvering throughout the entire Summoner’s Rift to help the other lanes gain an edge on their respective opponents. 

Map movement gradually became one of the key factors determining your victory as the mental aspect of LOL progressed.

Mages aren’t exactly known for their mobility. Most of them don’t have any movement-related ability in their kit. 

Alas, in the recent seasons the ever-growing doctrine of organized skirmishes, fights, and dives prevailed, so static lane farming grew to be more and more unrewarding. 

At the end of the day, League of Legends is a team game before everything and having your other lanes assist you could easily shift the balance of a game in your favor. 

In this meta, lane pushing became the top priority since a shoved lane gives you the freedom to focus on neutral objectives and help your struggling teammates. 

Midlane plays the most important part in that because of its position to easily influence both the Top and Bottom sides of the map. Roaming mages get picked more and more daily, so in this article, we will show you which are the best, and why.

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7. Zoe

Our list begins with one of the universally most hated champions in the entire game. Many tears were shed because of this frisky girl’s ability to one-shot you in a quick and frustrating fashion. 

Zoe possesses a very specific kit that allows her to excel in the hands of a good player, but don’t be fooled – she is far from an easy hero.

Strengths:

• Exceptionally high burst damage
• Her E (Sleepy Trouble Bubble) is one of the longest CCs in the game
• The long range of her Q-R combo makes playing around it very difficult

Weaknesses:

• Weak wave clear with only her Q (Paddle Star) helping it
• Very squishy (E is her only defense tool)
• Easily countered by mobile champions, for example, assassins

While she doesn’t offer anything extraordinary regarding mobility, a good player could very easily make use of her 100-0 potential and make all enemy lives miserable.

6. Malzahar

The second on our list is Malzahar – a champion well regarded as worthy of pick only because of his R. His ultimate ability, Nether Grasp is one of the best in the entire game. 

I would say that he is fairly easy to master, but with him, your patience, and timing levels must be top-notch in order to win.

Strengths:

• Insanely good wave clear with W (Void Swarm) and E (Malefic Visions)
• Hard counters mobile champions with his R
• Sustained single target DPS

Weaknesses:

• Very vulnerable without his ultimate ability
• Easily countered by one item (QSS)
• Not mobile at all

In an ideal situation, Malzahar just shoves wave after wave and roams to other lanes to get picks with his R. 

Even a decent player can turn him into an impossible-to-play-against menace, but his heavy reliance on his ultimate is a double-edged sword that can be quickly exploited.

5. Ryze

A champion famous for his ever-present professional play and low winrate, Ryze emerges as one of the most picked midlaners of all time. 

His ability pool is easy to catch on, but it entirely depends on the skill of a player will he be just an E-Q spam machine or an unstoppable battlemage.

Strengths:

• Late game hard carry
• Great objective play setup due to his R (Realm Warp) and W (Rune Prison)
• Insanely high movement speed
• Solid burst damage

Weaknesses:

• Incredibly weak early, only gradually becomes stronger
• Extremely item reliant
• The very short range makes him easy to counter

Ryze can set up magnificent plays with his ultimate, effectively ganking both side lanes and securing objectives. He grows stronger with each item acquired, however, you should be wary of his weak early game potential. 

Even a few successful ganks could effectively destroy your ambitions of a victory.

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4. Zilean

You probably absolutely adore Zilean when he’s on your team. You also probably detest him to an extent if he’s on the other side. 

At the first sight, nothing is intimidating about him, but then you realize he provides XP to his teammates, has a significant low-cooldown movement speed buff/point-and-click slow, reliable crowd control, potentially immense AOE damage, and… revive?! 

It’s an incredibly efficient character and unstoppable force in skilled enough hands.

Strengths:

• Perfect for setting up plays and skirmishes
• Revive with his R (Chronoshift) every other minute
• Strong wave clear allows him to freely help other lanes
• Enables the carries to dominate the game

Weaknesses:

• Glass cannon
• Struggles versus tanky and mobile champions
• Ultimate lasts only for 5 seconds, meaning you have to time it to perfection

The Chronokeeper is incredibly fun to play, even more so with the Everfrost addition. You might experience some difficulties when behind, but still, the base value that he provides will be always useful.

3. Lissandra

It took some time for people to realize what the Ice Witch is capable of – leading to her being an unskippable part of every professional play. 

Truth be told, if you look at her kit, you can see why. A strong all-around mage with considerable damage with easy-to-land Crowd Control, Lissandra instills fear in every adversary on her lane.

Strengths:

• Massive engagement potential with her E (Glacial Path)
• AOE Crowd Control in her W (Ring of Frost), and point-and-click one in her R (Frozen Tomb)
• Great utility

Weaknesses:

• Difficult lane phase
• Large mana expenses
• Major abilities have long cooldowns

Despite her professional scene reservations, Lissandra is a rather undemanding character to play. Her firm power is to superbly execute even the hardest set-ups, skirmishes, dives, and objective plays. If you want to play the best not-hard roaming mage – there she is.

2. Taliyah

One of the most beautifully designed champions in the entire game, Taliyah captures the hearts and minds of her players with silky gameplay options. 

Her entire kit is based on movement and DPS, which is why she was often picked in the jungle for the past few seasons. In Season 12, Riot has restored some of her laning capabilities, so if you want to see what explosiveness looks like, try her out.

Strengths:

• Very effective R (Weavers’ Wall) as a roaming tool
• Strong laning phase
• Consistent damage source
• High burst damage with her W (Seismic Shove)

Weaknesses:

• Fragile against assassins and mobile champions
• Fairly short range
• Unreliable CC

Taliyah is practically created for roaming, and she excels in that duty just fine. While other mages either have stronger CC or damage, the Stoneweaver is rewarded with as much off-battle mobility as a mage can get. 

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1. Aurelion Sol

As hard as he is aesthetically pleasing, Aurelion Sol is certainly not a champion for the non-determined people. 

He could easily be considered the best character in the game, but his playing ability closely matches one of the people controlling him, so to make the best use of him, you have to be a very skilled player.

Strengths:

• His E (Comet of Legend) is a very efficient roaming tool
• High accumulating base damage with his passive (Center of the Universe) and abilities
• Exceptionally good wave clear

Weaknesses:

• Requires a high level of skill to be effective
• Weak laning phase
• Cannot hide in bushes due to his passive

Overall, the Star Forger is the best roaming mage in the game, with his Q (Starsurge) having a nice synergy with his E, allowing it to grow larger the more Aurelion Sol travels. 

While he is notoriously hard to play, if you master him, you’ll find that the benefits of playing him far exceed his deficiencies.

So, there you have the best roaming mages in League of Legends. I have not included mages such as Ahri and LeBlanc due to them being mainly assassins in my book. 

Generally, now is the best time to play roaming champions, as the current meta heavily favors skirmishes and coordinated engagements. Have fun while playing!